A Home Cooked Meal

I made a baked pasta casserole and cheese bread tonight instead of going out to dinner.

So what if I don't make a home cooked meal for my family every night. Cooking makes me cranky. Not just the cooking, but the grocery shopping, the cooking, the mess and the clean-up all make me cranky. By the way, just because it was cooked on a house stove, does not mean that it is any healthier than the food prepared on the stove at Outback, Olive Garden, O'Charley's or any other sit down restaurant. I prefer to sit down with my family at a table with someone attending to our empty glasses and bread basket while we have a nice family conversation. After dinner, I prefer to come home to a clean kitchen with a to-go box full of leftovers for lunch the next day. Our dinner technique allows for more family time and less labor on our part.
When my kids are grown, their dinner memories will not be of me standing in the kitchen for two hours every night while they sit in front of a television or computer, it will be of us deciding where will we gather for dinner and what we will order. It will not be of everybody scarfing down their food so they can get back to the computer, tv, or text messages, it will be of the four of us enjoying a relaxing meal without interuption. It will not be arguments about whose doing the dishes, but discussions of the days happenings and upcoming events. Dining out nightly may not be everybody's "cup of tea", but as for the Hayes family...it works for us.